An expert in food contamination says the strain of bacteria that’s resulted in a recall of frozen beef across Canada is cause for alarm, given the serious health consequences that can result from consuming the affected products.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Tuesday widened an existing warning on frozen burgers and steakettes to now include more than 135 different products, due to the possibility they are contaminated with E. coli.

The products affected by the recall all came from a Saskatoon food-processing plant operating under the name New Food Classics that has since stopped operations, said Garfield Balsom, a CFIA food safety and recall specialist.

One illness has been reported, which prompted an investigation to start on Feb. 15 and the first recall to be issued Feb. 18, Balsom said.

He said the CFIA investigation is continuing and it’s not known at this time what the root cause of the contamination was.

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Benjamin Chapman, a Canadian food safety specialist currently working as professor at North Carolina State University, said the growing nature of the beef recall shows that authorities “just weren’t able to find out what the history of the (originally suspect) product was, so they’ve essentially recalled everything that producer has put out.”

The specific strain of E. coli in this recall, 0157:H7, is a “really nasty bug,” added Chapman, one that was connected to deaths in a contaminated water scandal in Walkerton, Ont., in 2000, and in an outbreak involving spinach in the U.S. in 2006.

“As a father of two little boys, it’s one of the bugs that scares me the most,” he said.

Even if not fatal, chronic health complication such as kidney failure and blindness can result from exposure to this kind of pathogen, particularly in children, Chapman said.

The CFIA says common symptoms of the potentially deadly bacteria include severe stomach cramps, diarrhea (often bloody), vomiting, nausea, headache and little or no fever. Symptoms usually last five to 10 days, it says.

Making sure ground beef is cooked to an internal temperature of 71 C (160 F) reduces the risk of E. coli, but does not completely eliminate it, Chapman said. He recommended using a thermometer to test this, noting that the inside colour of meat is not a reliable indicator of how well cooked it is.

The products in this recall have been distributed nationally to stores, restaurants and institutional establishments, said the CFIA, a federal government agency.

The affected products can be identified by an “establishment number,” or EST, of 761, which appears on the packages, cartons or cases.

The recalled products were made at the New Food Classics plant in Saskatoon between July 1 last year and Feb. 15 this year, the CFIA said. The closure of this operation was evident when workers there arrived to find it locked up on Feb. 21. About 150 people worked there. Balsom could not comment on whether there was a connection between the recall and the plant’s closure.

Phone numbers listed for the company were not being answered Tuesday.

Norm Neault, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union local representing New Food Classics workers in Saskatoon, said the company had been struggling for some time and had gone into creditor protection in January. He said it was facing higher prices from its distributors for the raw products yet locked into long-term prices with its customers, resulting in lower profit margins.

Neault said there was nothing he knew about the Saskatoon plant or its operations that would make him view it as a high risk for contamination. “To me, that was a fully modern plant; I have no idea why that would happen,” he said.

On how the food might have been contaminated, Neault said:“Things happen, and sometimes they’re out of the control of anybody … whether it be faulty machinery, whether it be human error.”

If there is any connection between the recall and the plant’s closure, Neault speculated that the E. coli scare might have discouraged potential buyers who could have saved the facility.

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